January Flower Photos of the Day

[blupit007]

PC, no... I am in the cold North East.  Connecticut.  But my big sunny south facing windows are doing my babies justice!  Here are 4 from today.  And I crossed them all!  CB with CH.  And VM with SP.  Should be interesting.  Charlie, keep your fingers crossed.

[helixturnhelix]

Great Kristen!  I am hoping that my plants will take pity on me and produce some buds and blooms during this gloomy weather.

[blupit007]

Hi Chris!  I will send you some good luck wishes!!  Mine seem to have adapted to the indoor life and gave up being stubborn.  Hopefully yours will too!

[davidwood]

Think Pink today with a few garden pinks for show, the garden hibs have been cut and placed on my Dark of Night bush so it looks attractive by the door.

[motherof4]

david... kristen...beautiful blooms...kristen I love cindys heart...I hopefully will have one some day...my weather has been horrible the last couple of weeks rain wind ...really low temps for my area in the 30's at night and only 50 during the day...I had to cover all my hibs with frost cloth but even still I have a few that are not happy..its stressing me out. .they really need sunshine,,,farmer d I am in sanbernardino area..how are your hibs doing..mine too are outside..oh well here are some of my blooms...hopefully more if this weather ever calms down..CHARLIE how are your outside hibs doing???..Lynette

[blupit007]

Wow Lynette!  The colors on that Heavy Metal!!  I hope for some break in that weather for you!!

[blupit007]

David, I don't know how you do it!... I love the look, but can never bring myself to actually pick one of my flowers.  Very pretty though!

[davidwood]

Lynett your heavy metal is stunning. I am about 4 days away from my first High Voltage bloom, I doubt with the weather here it will show pink like yours but we will see.

Kristen I am not as brave as you think cutting my blooms, it took me a long time before I got used to doing  it, and if you look at the garden hib in the picture the blooms I cut today came from the back against the wall which I could not see anyway.

[farmer d]

david... kristen...beautiful blooms...kristen I love cindys heart...I hopefully will have one some day...my weather has been horrible the last couple of weeks rain wind ...really low temps for my area in the 30's at night and only 50 during the day...I had to cover all my hibs with frost cloth but even still I have a few that are not happy..its stressing me out. .they really need sunshine,,,farmer d I am in sanbernardino area..how are your hibs doing..mine too are outside..oh well here are some of my blooms...hopefully more if this weather ever calms down..CHARLIE how are your outside hibs doing???..Lynette

Hi Lynette,

I don't blame you for being stressed.  We're used to getting breaks of  a couple weeks at a time between winter weather systems - not this season so far...but your blooms are exquisite.  Kristen was right about your Heavy Metal - magnificent colors.  Don't feel too bad!

Maybe you should change your handle from mother of 4 to a much larger number to include all the parental weight of handling your hibs.  We're all parents in this respect?!

My plants are hanging in there, though my buds are taking forever to open.  I recently sprayed my plants with some Wilt Pruf in hopes of a natural way to kill off spider mites and since then my flowers are opening kind of half way.  You would think the mites would be dormant by now with this colder weather but I got several plants showing more yellow leaves (or maybe its coincidentally too much rain water?).  This time of year there is a lot of possibilities to contend with.

One interesting thing I've observed is that the plants really have a mind of their own and seem to almost know when to stop a bloom from opening for days at a time when the weather is bad.  I've got 5 blooms on the verge of opening on my Bridal Path for over a week now and each day I'd swear this is the day but with this weather the plant just won't open them.  Charlie - I'm not a botanist but where again is the plant's brain located?

Cheers!
Farmer D

[motherof4]

Yes farmer d i know what you mean..mine are taking forever to open also..I was going to uncover mine this morning but it still only around 45.....Charlie do you think its best to leave them covered during the day...it shoud be around 55 today or just leave them covered?...its funny most of my hibs look fine..but I have around 5-6 that are looking bad...and I think mostly it is from all the rain we had last week...I should have covered them sooner...the ones that are looking sick are..rebel rouser..fabulous..song sung blue..georgias thunder..allure..purple magic..And I really do not want to lose any of them  ........the good thing  is it is suppose to clear up after today and be in the 60's and sunny the rest of the week... ..and yes the store opening was great....9 more to add to the bunch..lynette

[Charlie]

Such gorgeous flower photos in the January photos topic! You'd think we are in summertime.

Lynette, winter is hard on hibiscus in inland California areas. You probably won't lose too many (unless we get unusual deep freezes) but expect some setbacks and damage. Tips will die back mostly but in spring you prune off all the bad wood and then new growth starts with new stems and leaves and by mid summer things are looking pretty good again. I haven't used frost cloth much but Dwayne, who I believe you met at an Open House, uses it over his big collection of hibiscus in Menifee which must be fairly close to you. If I can reach him I'll ask if he takes the covers on and off. The plants do get light and water through the frost cloth.

Farmer D, hibiscus do seem unusually reactive to what we do around them. Leave them alone for a couple of weeks and they seem to get depressed and perform badly. They like us around, fussing with them, very much like pets. Many people have observed that flower opening is affected by sun vs clouds and for sure temperatures. It can be a benefit in that the biggest flowers are often observed when a cloudy day or two prevents the bud from opening. Instead it grows larger and then opens when temps and/or sun are right.

Have to get back to you on the "where is the brain?" question. We'll get Chris to research that one. 

Charlie

[helixturnhelix]

The brain is obviously in the flowers, thats why they change all the time

[davidwood]

This is a first for me, second day blooms, the Cranberry Muffin in the middle is a first day the other and Chariots of Fire a second.

[Charlie]

You may be on to something, Chris!

David, thanks for this latest photo. I find it interesting how often Cranberry Muffin blooms in multiples. Almost all the varieties do it sometimes but C Muffin seems to do it more often than not.

Charlie

[farmer d]

Farmer D, hibiscus do seem unusually reactive to what we do around them. Leave them alone for a couple of weeks and they seem to get depressed and perform badly. They like us around, fussing with them, very much like pets. Many people have observed that flower opening is affected by sun vs clouds and for sure temperatures. It can be a benefit in that the biggest flowers are often observed when a cloudy day or two prevents the bud from opening. Instead it grows larger and then opens when temps and/or sun are right.

Charlie

So true...up until yesterday nothing but clouds, rain and wind for 2 weeks.  I think we're in for a nice stretch of weather for a little while in So Cal as my weather friends are seeing the arctic oscillation high pressure weakening some what so that the jet stream will head more north again.

Here are some pics of three plants that have all had these same buds ready to open since around xmas.  Talk about slow torture.

The Bridal Path has had 7 buds on the verge forever now.  As you said, the longer they wait the bigger they can get...maybe some summer sized blooms here in the heart of winter.  Thank you as always for the great info - I learn so much reading here.

Enjoy the anticipation!

Farmer D